Detainees may go to Illinois prison

December 06, 2009|The Washington Post

CHICAGO -- Despite opposition from congressional Republicans, the Obama administration is signaling that a state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., will probably become the new home for scores of terrorism suspects now housed at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Officials from the White House, Defense Department and U.S. Bureau of Prisons spent two hours last week briefing more than a dozen members of the Illinois delegation in the office of Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. To reassure skeptical Republicans, they emphasized security. Although the officials left open the possibility that another site could be chosen, participants emerged from the session convinced that the U.S. government will buy the largely unused $145 million Thomson Correctional Center, which was built in 2008. If all goes well, administration sources involved in closing the Guantanamo Bay prison anticipate a handover of the Thomson facility by late winter. It would then take several months to prepare the prison to a level "beyond supermax" and put the staff in place, according to federal estimates. In Thomson, a town near the Mississippi River, popular support is strong for a federal purchase of the prison. Unemployment in the area is 10.5 percent, and the White House suggests that as many as 3,000 jobs could be created -- some going to local hires, others to people who would move to the area.